I have been reading on the forums about clutches needing to be replaced. Can you share some tips on clutches DO's and DONT's?

Thanks!!

 

DO try to stay off the clutch as much as possible.
DONT do high rpm launches.
DO try to be smooth but...
DONT ride the clutch.
DONT keep your foot on the clutch while sitting at a stop.

The MINI's clutch seems to be fairly robust. Most issues seem to stem from lots of stop-and-go driving or abuse.

 

What does "riding" the clutch mean? I've also read something like letting the clutch drop...
Sometimes I need to move the car very slowly... exiting parking and things like that... and I do play with the clutch a bit... is that really harmful? is there another way to do it that is better for the clutch? I've actually driven a standard all my life, but never really thought about my habits with it until now...
Also one mechanics question... personally I dont do it , but.. if you keep the clutch pressed while in a stop... you are actually disengaging the clutch right? is that bad for the mechanics of it, or because it causes some wear on it? Thanks !!

 

Riding the clutch means that you leave your foot on the pedal when you are at speed. In toher words, don't use it as a foot rest while driving.

 

The clutch is disengaged, but the throw out bearing is getting hot just sitting there spinning.

 

Letting the clutch drop means taking your foot off it as fast as possible...usually resulting in wheelspin. This can also be called "side-stepping" the clutch. dansmini is right on about the throwout bearing. As for moving slowly out of a parking lot, those kind of things can't really be avoided and as long as the revs are low, you're not going to be hurting the clutch too much.

 

Thanks for all the info, im really not used to many of these expressions in english :-)

 

I used to work in a company where bunch of co-workers used to race cars. But there was this one guy who was supposed to be a really good racer. I asked him to teach me how to drive on the manual transmission properly. His rules were simple.

1. "Clutch should be IN or OUT.".
2. Use the dead clutch. (It's the metal stepping pad all the way on the left). Keep your foot on the dead clutch at all times. It's there for a reason.
3. Use only the first gear to take off. (No other gear as they are not designed to take that load.)
4. "Right speed, right rpm, right gear". If you match the speed and RPM to the correct gear, you won't even need a clutch. It's less work for transmission. The only gear you need the clutch is the first gear.

With that last word, he shifted his car without using a clutch and not jerking at all!!! It was just amazing. He said "I still use the clutch to keep the wear in the clutch down. I'm on my original clutch after 120k miles.".

I think most people get lazy with clutch. I watched a friend who was starting his Jetta using a 2nd gear and I was biting my tongue. And I bark at my fiance (Boo) riding on the 2nd or 3rd gear so she can avoid that 1 shift on our other car.

Bad habits and shortucs will only land you in the shop faster...

 

how long on average does a stock clutch last, if used properly?

 

And with the lack of end torque on the MINI it's painful to start from anything other than first. I can get away with it on the V6 bimmer on a rolling start (not that I would roll through a stop sign) . . . but I only did it once in the MINI before learning my lesson.

 

It should last over 100k miles even on the taller geared early models. One of the first guys to reach 100k miles had a 15% pulley and auto-x'd his MINI several times while still using the stock clutch.

 

If you have to drive in snow it is easier to start in 2nd gear. Then short shifting( going to next gear at low rpm's will help reduce wheel spin). Thats the only time I don't use 1st gear. Last car I had was a 94 Saturn, Never raced Auto x only once. 289000 miles on original clutch. Riding the clutch and over reving when starting off are hardest on the material. Should only take a couple hundred rpms above idle to keep the car from stalling, clutch should be released fully as soon as the car is moving.

 

Replacing the clutch slave cylinder is reputed to greatly extend clutch life. Costs about $100 or so. Wish I had taken that advice before I had to spend far more around the 95,000 mile mark.

 

The MINI clutch, as suggested earlier, is extremely robust. I do "hard" launches with my JCW on a regular basis, and the clutch is still going strong after 50,000 miles. I never got more than 35,000 miles out of the clutch on any of my other vehicles. As mentioned by others, don't ride the clutch and throw it into neutral at stops (foot off clutch). I also double clutch on down shifts to save the synchros and will ignore the clutch on upshifts during leasurely acceleration.

Most of the clutch related issues I've seen on the forum appear to be manufacturer issues rather than driver abuse.

 

what do you mean by "ignore the clutch"? and what do you mean by "double clutch"?

 

Also don't 'ride the cluch' to keep you stationary on a hill. If your going to be there for more than a couple of second use the hand break and put it in neutral and take you foot off the clutch. Learning how to do a hill start was an important part of the UK driving test. When you want to go put it in first apply some revs and come of the clutch gently until you see the nose of the car begin to dip. At this point you are countering the effect of gravity on the car and can relase the hand break without rolling back. Keep the revs on and ease up on the cluch some more to move off. (Yeah it feels like trying to balnce on a footmall while rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time the first few times through but it's a really useful technique. Soon you don't even have to catch the tipping point you just get a feel for the car).
Of course you could always get an R56 with DCS and 'Hill Assist'. ;P. If you want your car to do the driving for you!

 

Double clutch is pushing the clutch down to shift out, release clutch and push the clutch down then shift. It's basically hitting the clutch twice in a pump like action, first to pull the gear out, and next pump to push the gear in.

The idea behind is so that synchro is used lesss. Synchros, which is a device that assists transmission to match rpm/tire rotation/gear, basically reduces gear wear/tear by assisting the driver. Otherwise, as you down shift, you need to rev the car up and match the rpm/speed/gear as close as possible. (And other way if going up in gear) Older cars used to have very little help from synchro so drivers had to match speed.

I used to watch people, who claimed to know how to drive manual, grind gears in my Fiat and stall it out because it had little/no synchro.

 

The uphill start with the parking brake is really easy after you try it 3 or 4 times. The first couple of tries I had problems, but after that it was really easy. I do it on even slight slopes now.
My test drive was the 3rd time I had ever driven a manual car.

 

Not arguing, I can still learn a few things, but I never heard of a need to double clutch in a synchronized transmission, unless the synchro's aren't synchroing. Back when I started driving synchronized trannies were scarce and double clutching - especially on large trucks etc. was a necessity.

In this case I think it adds a degree of complexity that should be unnecessary, and in any case there is still a need to rev match whether you decide to double clutch or not.

 

i always double clutch when shifting up and shifting down. Is this unnecessary? Is this bad? I feel like I'm going to break something if I force the shifter into neutral without clutching. I had to teach myself how to drive stick with my explorer 7 years ago, so I'm sure I've picked up some bad habits. I've asked alot of people for advice over the years, but I've gotten a lot of conflicting information

 

You're not hurting anything if you double clutch correctly but in most cases it is unnecessary. Forcing the shifter into neutral without clutching at all wouldn't be a normal way to shift. Check this out: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-double-clutching.htm

It might be helpful. Remember, double clutch or not, there is always a need to rev match in order to make a smooth shift that is also easy on the drive train.

 

If you're keeping the revs in the power range (over 4000 rpm), it's a must to double clutch on a downshift so as not to abuse the synchros. If you are downshifting well under 4000 rpm, there really is no need to double clutch. Since I've been double clutching for over 35 years, it's a hard habit to lose (and I usually keep the engine in the power range when accelerating, deccelerating or in a turn.

 

monkeynboo descibes the double clutch pretty well.

Ignoring the clutch means upshifting without depressing the clutch by letting the engine revs fall to match the transmission input shaft speed. Saves on shift time and not hard to do correctly since the engine speed will drop to the correct speed when you take your foot off the gas for the shift.

Under normal driving circumstances, it probably doesn't make any sense. It's just a driving style I adopted during my road racing days.

 

so you can push the stick into gear without depressing the clutch and it doesnt damage anything?

 

Once you're moving, you can shift gears without the clutch if you match speeds correctly, lift throttle just the right amount...

It's an art to do it without grinding or damaging synchros.